24 things I've made... zine

24 things I've made

a zine... for 24 hour zine thing project

24 things I've made

a zine... for 24 hour zine thing project

24 Things
I've
made ■ • •

24 Things I ' ve made . . .

01 . gps data music in max/msp

02. visual art videos in isadora

03. clocks

04. knitting

05. pdf picture books

06. screenprint portraits

07. personalized decorated cakes

08. painted flower pots

09. paper

10. floppy disk covered notebooks
1 1 . way too many photos

12. internet radio show

13. skirts / clothes

14. music gigs: sun(§taantra

15. websites

16. balcony on moo

17. television systems

18. sound recordings

19. book oho-pter

20. remix cd: Love You Brisbane
21 . mix cds & tapes

22. tekken-dubbed movies

23. videoblogging projects videos

24. (this) zine

01 . gps data music in max/msp

in 2005 I was living in the uX for
a few months. I've always loved
interactive music & visuals in
gallery installations, so when I
heard about a max/msp course at Gol
-dsmiths College on the weekends, I
enrolled for it. For the final week
we had to demo a project. I made a
gps data music patch. I'd teen
collecting gps data tracks durin
varhus drives in southern England
and parts of Eur ope. The patch read
the gpg co-ordinates and adjusted
an "ambience" plugin which was
applied to smae sound recordings
I'd made at the different locations.
There was aleo an X-Y grid displayed
on the patch controller page, so
you could follow the gps path
whilst listening to the music. It
sounded OK - the lecturer, Sebastian
Lexor (who runs the INTfiRface nights
in London) said he liked it. He had
helped make the patch whilst I was
learning max/msp. I'd like to make
another version that generates music
from the recorded samples - I think
that'd be cool. One day when I have
more time perhaps.

01

02. visual art videos in Isadora
Isadora is a video prooessin,;
program. It's a visual programming
system that uses patching technology.
There are different patch objects
which you can join together with
lines, or patch cords. I like this
type of programming as I find it
quicker and more logical as I can
see how the outputs of one object
can become inputs for other objects.
Maybe it's the human visual-based
mind, letting me see how the program
is working when it's laid out in a
visual manner.

I've made a few videos in Isadora.
"mimiJS on the beach" - a collage
of a few videos taken on Bethell's
beach in Auckland - of a girl flying
a kite.

"news slices in the snow" - snow £
falling in Jerusalem with a mix of
news articles from webpages telling
of a police hero who had saved
people from a terrorist attack,
"nature vs. city" - comparisons of
natural life vs urban living inspired
by a Philip K Dick course I'd just
finished

"got love?" -video of graffiti seen
on a Jerusalem walll asking "got love?

02

05. clocks

I used to work at a TV station in
Brisbane. I'd collect the old hard
drives and tape machine parts , then
pull them apart and make clocks for
friend's presents. Everyone loved to
receive one and I loved to make them
for people. People would say that I
should sell them, but I didn't think
it would be right -these were my art:
It didn't feel right to sell to
people I didn't Know and have them
take them home. What if they didn't
appreciate them or look after them?
Perhaps this is a selfish thought ofi
my part . .

It was fun to think about the
person who I was making the clock for
and look at all the pieces and select
each component individually. Then
lay each piece into position and
fasten them together. There was wu
involved, as mentioned in "The man
in the high castle" (which I've just
finished reading).

I've since moved to Sydney & overseas
& back to Sydney. The other day I foun

-d a few of the clock-bits boxes so
Iftd like to make some more clocks
again soon - it's been a while. I
don't have the same kind of friends
here though so maybe it won't be the

03

U4. knitting

I used to knit, and do other crafty
things when I was a pre-teen and
early teenager. I think it was
because Mum was always making some
-thing - she made soft toys and jams
& cakes etc for markets and school
fetes. We often had a market stall
on the weekends. But onee I was in
high school and beyond I didn't
work on crafty projects as much.

A few years ago, I saw some
knitted toys at an arts/music festiv
-al I go to each year (when in
countyy). And then I saw knitted
penguin jumpers for soaking up oil
spills on their feathers. They were
so cute! So I started knitting again.
I like writing out the patterns too
these days. Knitting is a binary
system - knit & purl, yet it's also
more than this as you can combine
these two stitches into different
patterns, as well as varyin;, the X8S
colours to increase the complexity.
I think women have taken back the
option to craft as well as work and
do anything they want to - to create
in any manner they can. I love the
mathematical knitting and geurilla
graffiti knittipg too. And making
qis for mv frienu T s babies /kids.

(

04

05. pdf picture books

I started thinking about writing a
zine - I've been reading them Tor a
Hhile, but nuver written one. I've
witten plenty of letters, postcards
and thoughts & lists in my notebooks
but I probably wouldn't class them as
zines. So I started with picture books
made in iphoto on my computer. Shey
are really easy to sake. I select
the photos, select which position to
lay them out and then export as a
pdf . My friend told me about pdf
compression - it can reduce the SL
file sizes quite a lot. Sometimes
I scan in my notebooks noted and then
add them as an image. It's hard to
read my messy handwriting these days

- I think it's due to typin^, on thc-j
computer 99/6 of "the time these days

- my handwriting skill has lessened
over the years.

I've made a few pdf picture books:
"food for digital nomads" - photos
of m^als I've had over the past five
years whilGt working and living
overseas.

"neon and anouk" - one for my sister
witu photos of her cats
"luminousity : scenius" - photos

05

06. screenprint pcrtraits
I've made a couple of screenprint
portraits. One for a friend's
birthday, but we drifted apart when
he started gotfig out with his
girlfriend (now his wife) so I never
gave it to him. And another of my
cousin's daughter. She looks too old
in it though - maybe 10, though
she's just turnea fou:/. S So I haven't
given this to her either. I haven't
finished the one of her brother, so
I was waiting until I had one of
each before giving them the paintin s-
But I'M not sure they are good enough
anyway. At least children are more
forgiving.

When I was younger my sister ami I
j-q sometimes made screenprinted t-shirts

and they were OK. I don't think
I should give up my dayjob to become
a screenprinter though!
> I've always liked prints though -
Andy Warhol is a favourite artist.
I like seeing the registration
errors - the imperfections. The eye
is quite forgiving of these in real
life - creating a softer image in
most cases. It8s like analog vs
digital tv - the eye will correct
errors in analog tv pictures, but
it won't in g digital. We are analo

06

07. personalized decoratea cakes
I haven't mads theae for yeans, but
recently I found photos of the cakes
and even a description of the day
we'd made them in a returned, unopen
-ed (return to sender) letter to a
friend who had moved to Melbourned
I remember making two decorated
cakes: a "T.J." cake and a "Stems"
cake. TJ was for my friend's birth
-day. Botha were green with black
licorice pieces . The Stems cake
looked like the cover of their record
- we used to listen to this over
and over, and even saw them play
in Brisban ; onee. At the time, we
used to wear all black clothes -
this was in high school. We didn't
call ourselves "swampy" as others
did at the time, rather, we were
"alternative". TJ loved her cake
and we took the Stems one to school
and had it at morning tea - remember
"little lunchjt - I never have time
for it these days. Or it's brunch
now. Oh to be back at school with
hardly a care in the world! And to
have all your friends around you
all the time. And time to make and
decorate cakes even!

07

12

08. painted flower pots

More presents - this time Christmas
presents for friends and family a
while ago - probably in mid 1 990 ' s .
Every now and then I get in making
frenzies and lookout if it's your
birthday coming up or another
gift— giving opportunity. I think I
decided to make these after seeing
some at local markets inthe Valley
and thinking it was something I
could do. They were painted bright,
block colours - blue and red, or gre
-en and yellow or other combinations.
Hum still has hers, or maybe they are
hers and my sister's. I remember
seeing them on the shelf last time
I visited home. At least they've
held up well - still«$ in good
condition. That's theJE only problem
with making gifts - sometimes I worry
how long they will last. You don't
like to give people things that
are going to fall apart too quickly.

But I suppose it's normal these
days - we live in an even more
disposable, consumer society now.
The 1970's and Ip$X 1980's were
nothing compared to no...

08

09. paper

I used to make writing paper from
used Christmas pc»per wrapping paper.
I have a paper making kit - which I
also found again recently. There are
a couple of trays, and mesh grid
trays for seiving the paper. I used
to dry it in the sun on the balcony.
I'll put a square of paper into this
zine. Some is uneven, or quite thick
compared to commercial paper, but
it's nice to reuse the old paper and
make something new from it - give it
a new lease of life. Can paper have
life? It had life when it was bark
on a tree or branches. But then is
transformed into paper - a witing
tool. Perhaps one of the most
important technologies of humans
life? Writing and communicating ideas
and leading to other creative pursuits
and leading to other technologies.
I wonder what humanity would be like
had we not evolved to write ideas
down? Would our memories be large
as they once were? Would we have share
-d memories as cromagnon man had?
Would their be less art, ,.ith no
paper, canvas to paint on, or paper
to write tomes of literature on? Or
would we have 9 found another way?

09

14

10. floppy disk covered notebooks

I've written in notebooks for as long
as I can remember. I use them a lot
at work, especially when starting a
new role or project - when I need
to remember something. I think it's
another way of outsourcing my memory.
These days I use email too, but
still have botabooks. Outside of

work I use them to write ideas, lists
and thoughts down. In the 1990's,
when the larger 5it" floppy disks
were being used less after being repl.
-aced by the larger format/capacity
3.5" harder c sed floppy disks, I
had lots of 5i" disks leftover. So
I reused them as notebook covers.
And used cut-up pages of recycled
printer paper as the paper. So in
most cases I could then only write
on one side of the page, but this
was enough. I still have a few bosea
of disks, so I'm sure they'll be reus
-ed again one day too. The J might
be harder to find in stores these
days? I used to use spiral binders
to bind the notebooks together. And
of course give some to others at
work to use too.

These days I mostly write in the A5
sized Moleskin^-jo notebooks - po:ke1
si ed ones.

10

1 1 . way too many photos

Having a digital pifflQJ camera means
it's very easy to take lots of
photos and record every moment. I
take way too many photos. And I keep
all of them. I upload them to my
to my flickr account (aliak_com),
mostly as a backup, though it stores
lower quality versions of the pictures
I also have them on hard drives. One
backup drive broke whilst I was in
Auckland staying in an apartment. It
was whilst I was there on a work
project so it was a serviced apartment
and I thinli the cleaning laay must
have knocked over the drive one day
as I found it on its side & it didn't
work again. I would have been upset
had I lost all those photos.

Susan Sontag says in "On Photography
" Cameras are the antidote and the
disease, a means of appropriating
reality and a means of making it
obsolete." I see her point — photos
are only one view of a scene - one
perception. They are only a represent-
ation. Hot always representing all the
facets and facts. And yet I still take
photos - I "take" them, away from
the moment , to try .and capture them

to store in my owni memories. Outsourc-
ing memories to fak« lra-'eu..

I tried some internet raaio broadcasts
in about 1997-9. Then I started
chatting in a few IEC channels in
1 998-9 . One day one of the guys asked
if I'd like to do my own show on
their new internet radio station,
Pulse Radio. So I started in April
2000 with a test broadcast and kept
doing my show for 4-5 years. At times
I was doing 1-3 shows, towards the end
it was just the single briz:b:e:a:t :s
program. I started it when I lived
in Brisbane, continued it mhen I moved
to Sydney, but finished up when I
moveu to the IK. The station then cha-
nged format and management too so it 5i
was the right time to finish up.
In Brisbane, I had guests come in
j(5 and either DJ or perform live. Once

I did a broadcast from London whilst
on holidays. I broadcast a few
warehouse parties and club events. I
used to do publicity/PR for the show
and guests too. And some came to play
a live set at a club gig I "used, to
organize. There was a great community
feel to the station and show - that
was one of my favourite parts. And
helping the artists in a/my own small
way too. The show had a good reputation
too - people tal'eqlg about it & the
station. It was a fun time!

12

15. skirts / clothes

Aostly I made these when I was in
my teens and twenties. At high
school I'd make skirts for school
dances - the "alternative" clothes.
In my twneties I made clothes to
waar to the dance parties. Everyone
tended to make clothes back then as
there weren't as many stores with the
clothes we wanted to wear. It was a
new look at the time. How the club
wear Is very popmlar and easy to find.
I suppose when people are younger,
they like to use clothes to show
others parts of their identity. I8m
not very fashion conscious these days
- most clothes seem u o be for younger
people. Now I'm sounuing old...

I had a sewing machine but gave it 7

to a friend, so small repairs is i
my sewing limit today - han« sewing.
Ky sister had an industrial sewing
machine as she studied fashion, and
she had an overlooker too. I was
never good at following patterns - I
would want to just sew pieces together
without following the rules. Sometime,;:
they turned out OK. I was good at
making rectangle skirts - they were
very easy to do.

13

14. music gifts: aunfcjaantra

Whilst in Brisbane, I organized a
weekly Sunday ntgirt live electronic
music night. Various local bands and
up & coming DJs came to play. Be
finished before midnight or just after
so it wasn't a late night for those
working the next day. It w-,s also more
laid back music styles compared to
the harder styled played in Brisbane
at the time.

One night a guy said he didn't want
to come inSC as he didn't know the band
-s. I told him to just go in and if he
li e. it then maybe he could come back
later and pay the cover ch rge - which
was $5 or less. le found me later in
the night and gave me tv/ice t e cover
18 charge and said it was the best kind

of night he'd been too in ages - he
liked the diversity. That made my ni t ,ht
- it aas always nice to get good
feedback. I think the banus and DJs
liked having a place to play tee. The
genres were mixed and everyone had a X
turn to play. It was agreat community.
Unfortunately the club glossed do,.'n
not long after I left. (I'd moved to
Sydney so had to stop doing theni, ht)

14

14

15. websites

I've had websites back since the days

of CompuServe - prior to that I

posted on BBS' or read them, but they

weren't my own page/site, so wouldn't

count. There was an angelfire page at-p

one stage, and the ISP webspn.ce page, '3

but the first hand-coded php site was «

the one I made for AliaK: filter in c

1999. It's similat to the content on t

the current Drupal-CMS site I use toda*

(which was first drupaliaed in 20uJ I jz

think). Originally, the site was r-

arranged so I could copy the text intoc

the emails I used to send out - event V.

notices, . rts, music notices and the g

briz:b:e:a:t:s internet radio show ta

details which included bios of the M

guests etc. I'm not sure how to a

classify it... not quite an ezine, ce

as it was always just a big list. Some.

people would print it out and put on K

their workplace noticeboards (so they R

told me). Since then the site is still"

running, though it's also turned into

a travel blog, or bookmarks collection^

site for me. I've hepled build proto-.j-i

type sites for other community orgs o

such as Undergrowth & HZ's Audio as

Foundation, though they built their

final. sites. I'm 15 also working on an
archive site: Brisbane Dance Parties

19

■ 16. balcony on moo

jvjy ex-boyfriend introduced me to BBS'
at the time. Me dialed in on 14.4kbps
or slower modems. The first one might
have even been 9k.. I can't remember no
They were text based sites, similar
to forums today. You could download
files and tiny, efficient programs and
art. We8d dial different numbers,
1 some local, interstate and overseas
'to connect to different servers. Lots
were university servers. Then we starte
-d using the MUDs/MOOs. My ex8s new
. work mates ran one called "pmcmoo"
telnet hero. village. Virginia. edu:7777
connect guest

(aftrequest (character name) for (email
address;
20 wait for mail & pwd, then (telnet to

same place & connect (Charname)(pwd)
then use commands fewho ©join (name)
Ogo unknown species vhq (this was the
name of the room we went to)
I was Alia, my ex was Haglin or
Haywood, or Aladrin. I made a balcony
, 'ffiH woutrgwly inX the summer breeze.
j Other friends were Sweden, Star burst,
I The big blue bus (scary), Oobadah.
! Oobadah (An,j') made a shiny spinning
! orb. There were other moo's too:
i M002^0 (sunlab.npac.syr.edu:2000)
©create generic j)<grtable room called

16

TJ. television systems

I've worked in tv - broadcast tv
engineering / computer systems
industry since 1989- Firstly at a
FTA station in Brisbane until 2001 ,
then at a cable tv station in Sydney
until 2003 when the digital trial was
abandoned. Theg a satellite broadcast
-er in Sydney until 2004. Then I
moved to working for a digital tv
systems vendor in UK. I've worked
for them in various countires and
cities, and broadcasters. Have traveled
a lot - to India (Bangalore, Delhi,
l Mumbaij, New Zealand (Auckland),
' Korea (Seoul), Turkey (Istanbul),
+ Israel (Jerusalem), Malaysia (Kuala
I Lumpur) and Australia (Sydney). I

was officially baaed in UK (South-
+ harnpton/Chandlers Ford; but didn't
' spend much time there. In 2008 I trans]

-ferred back to the Sydney office but
I I still travel from thsre. It's been
,_ nice to be home though.

So I've setup computer & broadcast
1 systems for different broadcasters
! around the world. It's interesting
! and a great way to travel, but it's
I very busy and stressful at most
i, times too. Maybe one day I can slow
i down a bit. I like to keep across
' arts/music comilfiniiies as a balance
for mv technical side. Still love ana]'

21

J 7

IB. sound recordings

I take my recording devices whenever
I go somewhere new. Usually these days
it s my phone, but I have a MB and '
microcassette recorder too. I seem to
record everything. Sometimes I
listen back to the recorsings and
remember the day or what I was
thinking at the time and what I
saw that day. I record lots of thin ■.;
- street sounds, water, birds,
seminars/talks I've attended. Many
times the recordings are not that
clear or listenable when I listen
back - they are not production
quality. More as another type of
memory trigger for me. I think
perhaps this is making my memory
22 worse as I have these other stora e

systems for it. When I was living"
overseas I found I missed havinf
some of my recordings nearby - sad,
but true. I didn't have time to encode
all of them prior to leaving. Some
were interview recordings, which I
would catch up on transcribing whilst
overseas when there was often not a lot
to do at nights after work (weed often
fin«4h late). Sometimes it's hard to
process a new place at once, so I
could listen back later and hear
Am.s I'd missed 18 the first time.

19. "book chapter

I think I've mentioned videoblog r ,ing
already - I'm a member of the yahoo-
groups videoblogging list, and spin
off groups xpKBffijE swi the newer
artists in the cloud., vlogtheory. X
Jay Dedman and Joshua Paul were
working on a "Videoblogging" book
and asked ifie if I'd like to submit
part of a chapter. So I wrote up
notes and instructions on "Quicktime
text tracks, href tracks and clickable
links" and sent it off. They have a
section in the book about making
clickable links in videos but my
notes were rewritten. M. I This is
not too surprising as I didn't know
the format / style of writing they
were using in the book and my
writing can beoome quite scattered
at times :) though I'm clearer with
technical HOWTO notes as I do these
for work at times. Anyway I was listed
as a contributer and received a free
copy once it was published so it's
all good. Maybe one day I'll write a
book.. I think it'll be the Brisbane
Dance Parties Afiohive book - at
least I hope I finish that one day.
I thought I'd start with a zine to

fefB dilVSiii^-Smifetk 11 ,

creatures reallv.

23

19

20. remix cd: Love You Brisbane

After I left Brisbane and moved to
Sydney, I was (and still am if truth
be told) quite homesick for the Bris
people & the dance music, sound art

6 experimental communities. I missed
the place too - it'll always be my home
So wfafen the old song "Love You
Brisbane" was mentioned on one of the
forums, I thought maybe I could
arrange a remix project and ask the
local artists to contribute. The sory
was the Channel Seven (TV) theme soa;
in the 1980's. I had worked at Channel .

7 from 1989-2001 so it'd only been
about 3-6 months since I'd left. I
contacted people and they gave me
permission to use the song for the

24 project. The guys from audio dept.

found the maitera copies and sent me a
cd of a few versions. Then I sent out
an email and posted the source cd to
artists wanting to contribute. I had
plenty of responses. One of the Pulse
Radio guys, Kat mixed the levels of the
final remix cd for me so it sounded
great. I was planning to do nice
artwork, but ran out of time, so I
had to make up a quick cd label & then
I had a od duplication/production co.
make the cds. I took them up to Bris
for the S003 (Stratg&u OUT of Bris)

20

21 . mix cds & tapes

Boxes hold lots of lost treasures

- one such thing was a photo of me
making a mixtape when I was about
15 or 16. I'd almost thought it
was a dream. Then I read about the
day in an unopened letter that had
been returned to me and had remained
unopened since 1987- It was like
opening a time capsule of myself -
my previous self. I8d made mix cds
in the 1990s and 2000' s for friends
and to play on the radio, as well

as recording live sets I'd donj to
mp3. But I couldn't remember making
them earlier. I could only recall
recording songs from the radio or
later the Dance Music Show on 4^zZ
community r^dio - which later changed
names to Crucial Cuts. I have some
of the old tapes from back then, but
they are WQWing a lot now. My
cassette deck was never that good, and
the one I have now - recently bought

- isn't that good either. Some of the
tapes I'd given up for lost, but there
was magick involved the day I found
them again, as I was -finking of my
friend (HIP; and I'm sure he led me

to them. A few of his tapes ..ere in th
-e stash. I couldnat believe how hap y
anaJoe- taoe could make me feel.

25

21

dlL ' tekken-dubbed movies"

These days this has a name -
"machinima". mX we used to have
Tekken II parties ..-hen I lived in
Auchenflower. About 25 people would
come over and we'd take turns playing
iekxen - it was a ^reat stress relief
and lots of fun. fly then end of the
night, the guys would be setting up
the VHS recorder, and overdubbing
the sound and making a mini Tekken
movie. Very funny. I need to see if
I still have any of the old t^pes.
Hopefully I didn't record over them.

It's not quite the same aa machinima
these days which is done on computers
but it was sort of the mi,,-90's
equivalent.
26 They were fun parlies. Most of the

gang still lives in Brisbane. Though
time had passed of course and some
have children now. I suppose one day
they will play games with their kids
like we did then. I wonder what the
games of the future will be like?
Probably some sort of realistic VE
system. At least these days there are
games involving full body movements to
keep people fit. I haven't played many
games for ages. I tried Second Life
for a while but it's not t^e saae as X
the old ,/orlds 22 Away avatar world.

22

23. videoblogging projects videos

Each year the videoblogging group

participate in various projects. I

usually do the VloMo - Videobloggins

Month in November. At le^-st I've done

it in 2007 (NaVloroMo) and 2003 and

th; Videoblogging Week in 2009. I

think vb week has "been running since X

2004-5 but I only tried it this year.

V3 Monti is held in November each

year, and the aim is to make a video

every nay. You upload it and tag it

and then everyone c n see your video

and the other participants video.

After doing a couple of these projects

I began to see patterns in my videos.

There's usually a couple of art ones

done in I sadora - it's a great chance

to practice using it and to try new 2 7

techniques for a given day's video.

Then I seem to go overseas without

my Mao, so I do straight cut edited

travel videos - drive to work, some of

the sights onthe weekends. Some food

and hotel videos. I'd like to do bette]

ones but sometimes time is limited

so I figure u^loadin. g something is

better th;n nothing. Some of tl e other

people's videos are amazing - usually

they are a simple idea of something

seeminglyjnund.AS which is turned into
a ttinff of Te,;utv simnle tnmss r n-

23

28

24. (this) zine

Well I$ve come to the end of this
little adventure. And despite very-
bad typing (sorry about all the 8's
instead of "s) it's finished. I'm
not sure if it's really a zine as I
think it's a hit self-indulgent - it's
"all about me", but it is what it is.
I would have liked to add pictures,
but they ouldn't fit on the pages. I
wanted to use the pages from my
Moleskine notebooks as these are my
favourite for writing in these days.
So I think perhaps it's a little bland
with just block writing. But there
you have it. In the past I suppose
letters have be_n my perzines thou ,h
they've not ^one out into the world - !
only to a single person. I've enjoyed
typing on a real typewriter ag in - my
fingers haven't worked this hard for
about 20-25 years! I had a little
orangi typewriter back then but I
can't find it now. I searched in all
my packing boxes to no avail. Alas it
has gone. And now so am I. I hope you
have enjoyed readin^ about my adventure
-s in making things, albeit small thin,..
-s - over the years . Creativity brings
the spark into my life.

^lagl-in^!- 2 4 Sa ^' Paz -
middle east - aha-us)

H

This zine was made by kath
for the 24 hour-zine-thing
project. The concept and
production of the zine was K
made within a 24 hour period
in Jujy 2009. Actually I
started it on 29th July @10pm
so I went over into 1st Aug.
oops.

It was typed on a new -old
Gabrielle 25 Adler typewriter
(manual) with a sticky y key.

kath

aliak77t»gmail . com
http://www.AliaK.com

http://24hourzines.com haa
other submissions for 2009 and
previous gears .

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